Secret Reporters No place to hide
Secret Reporters
In an era where Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari preaches his plagiarized ‘Change Begins With Me’ campaign, he is in the United States of America with his family balling hard and living the baby boy’s life fit for royalties, mega stars and reckless billionaires.
Buhari who jetted out of the country for the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) event went with his wife, Aisha Buhari and children, first of its kind in the country, which is currently facing recession.
Competent presidential sources told Secret Reporters that the children’s name were on the list from day one and they never paid their way through to the US as the SSA on publicity, Mr Garba Shehu tweeted via his handle.
“As a matter of fact, the children’s name top that of Ministers and presidential aides”, the source disclosed. Even though the First Lady. Aisha Buhari was not invited for the trip, we gathered that her name was put there just to douse the rumor that she cannot visit the US, as alleged by Governor Fayose of Ekiti State.
Another Presidential source told this newspaper that the suggestion to include Aisha was brought by a diplomat working in the State House to put the rumor to rest as Nigerians believed she traveled to Doha in her last US publicity stunt which never scaled through.
“Diplomatically, you cannot arrest any member of the President’s family, except in extreme cases. But now, no matter how extreme the case is, you cannot pick up Aisha once she’s with the President. It’s on that note that she was included to be among those to attend the United Nations General Assembly”, the source stated.
Apart from Aisha, his two daughters, Halima and Zara also went with him, which is clearly against the UNGA law to allow persons without business inside the venue of the meeting. Aisha’s makeup artist, Fati Mamza was also flown to US just to put foundation on the First Lady’s face.
Contrary to Presidential and Buhari’s social media team denial that the children can be in the venue despite not having their names on delegate list, a quick search by this newspaper showed that they goofed. As a matter of fact, a villa insider revealed that Aisha and the children went as delegates for UNGA, though contributed nothing apart from taking selfies and photo shots to mock compatriots back home.
In the UN frequently asked questions in number ten to determine if the general debate is opened to the public, the answer explicitly stated “No, the general debate and the General Assembly are not opened to the public. Due to the large number of VIPs attending, additional security measures are taken in and around the UN premises. Access to the premises is more restricted than usual and is restricted to delegates and their staff; staff members of the United Nations Secretariat and of the funds, programmes and agencies of the United Nations system; accredited media; and affiliates who are wearing a United Nations grounds pass. In addition, members of civil society who are invited to attend the high-level meetings are required to be in possession of a meeting-specific pass at all times”.
Close insiders disclosed that an initial budget of N4 billion was budgeted for the one week trip, but was reduced to N2.5 billion. Apart from Buhari who is meant to collect estacodes, we gathered that Aisha, his two daughters and Make up artists were also paid in dollars.
